Global History
Let’s think about what global history is, and how we can think in global terms.
Global history is all about thinking about connections.
3 different profiles. What connects them through time and space?
1) I am Louis Mozambique from Brazil. The year is 1820. I live on a big plantation and we are in
the middle of a harvest. It took me 6 hours today in the fields to pick the amount of coffee
beans needed for my quota. That was after the morning prayers, and then later I helped to
gather in some of the corn I grew with my compadres, or friends. The harvest seems to be
taking longer this year.
2) I am Martin Jones, a dockworker in London and the year is 1838. I am starting to feel the
cold more in the early hours of the morning, so I like to pick up a cup of coffee from Jim in
the stall on the corner on my way in. He was telling me about this big rally up in Scotland,
when they started calling for everyone to have the vote and a change to how parliament
works. Sounds like a good idea to me!
3) I am Alfredo Batista, and I have just left my home in the countryside in Venice. The year is
1890. I am not looking forward to the long boat trip ahead, but there is nothing here
anymore. My cousins wrote to me about a great opportunity to get work in Brazil. They had
to work on plantations for a few years, then they had enough money to move to the city and
are doing well for themselves. You hear some stories about former slaves, but I hope it will
work out for me.
What connects these people, separated by 100 years and 3 different countries?
Coffee. All of their jobs revolve around coffee to some extent.
Coffee: Global Connections.
By way of an introductory illustration to the kinds of connections we will be asking you to make.
The first person mentioned that it seemed like there was more work. That was because Brazil was
undergoing a period of expansion, which was made possible by transatlantic slavery. One of the
most historically important and devastating movements of people around the globe. So, between
1800 and 1850, fuelling this expansion of the coffee industry, 1.5 million slaves were trafficked from
Africa to brazil, mainly to work on coffee plantations. The abolition of the slave trade by Britain and
its possessions around the world in 1807- brazil was one of the only countries to continue importing
African slaves en ,mass after the abolition of the slave trade. As you can see from figures, actually
greatly expanded trafficking slaves after 1800. How does this connect to the second dockworker
profile? This massive expansion in the production of coffee made possible by coerced labour meant
that in the early 19th centry, coffee for the 1st time became very cheap and affordable for ordinary
and working class people. Previously was considered a luxury item. People like martin could not
previously have afforded coffee. Connecting this to the final profile, the Italian worker considering
migrating to brazil; slavery was abolished in brazil in 1888. She was one of the last countries in the
world to abolish this type of slavery. This meant a large labour force upon which key aspects of the
Brazilian economy depended, needed to be replaced quickly. One of the approaches adopted by the
Brazilian gvt and other latin American countries was to encourage mass immigration of people,
especially from Europe, Italy, spain and Portugal so that some 1 million Italians migrated to brazil
between 1880 and 1900, particularly to address that labour gap created by the abolition of slavery.
This in turn, the greta movement of people helped maintain brazil’s great place in the world as a
Let’s think about what global history is, and how we can think in global terms.
Global history is all about thinking about connections.
3 different profiles. What connects them through time and space?
1) I am Louis Mozambique from Brazil. The year is 1820. I live on a big plantation and we are in
the middle of a harvest. It took me 6 hours today in the fields to pick the amount of coffee
beans needed for my quota. That was after the morning prayers, and then later I helped to
gather in some of the corn I grew with my compadres, or friends. The harvest seems to be
taking longer this year.
2) I am Martin Jones, a dockworker in London and the year is 1838. I am starting to feel the
cold more in the early hours of the morning, so I like to pick up a cup of coffee from Jim in
the stall on the corner on my way in. He was telling me about this big rally up in Scotland,
when they started calling for everyone to have the vote and a change to how parliament
works. Sounds like a good idea to me!
3) I am Alfredo Batista, and I have just left my home in the countryside in Venice. The year is
1890. I am not looking forward to the long boat trip ahead, but there is nothing here
anymore. My cousins wrote to me about a great opportunity to get work in Brazil. They had
to work on plantations for a few years, then they had enough money to move to the city and
are doing well for themselves. You hear some stories about former slaves, but I hope it will
work out for me.
What connects these people, separated by 100 years and 3 different countries?
Coffee. All of their jobs revolve around coffee to some extent.
Coffee: Global Connections.
By way of an introductory illustration to the kinds of connections we will be asking you to make.
The first person mentioned that it seemed like there was more work. That was because Brazil was
undergoing a period of expansion, which was made possible by transatlantic slavery. One of the
most historically important and devastating movements of people around the globe. So, between
1800 and 1850, fuelling this expansion of the coffee industry, 1.5 million slaves were trafficked from
Africa to brazil, mainly to work on coffee plantations. The abolition of the slave trade by Britain and
its possessions around the world in 1807- brazil was one of the only countries to continue importing
African slaves en ,mass after the abolition of the slave trade. As you can see from figures, actually
greatly expanded trafficking slaves after 1800. How does this connect to the second dockworker
profile? This massive expansion in the production of coffee made possible by coerced labour meant
that in the early 19th centry, coffee for the 1st time became very cheap and affordable for ordinary
and working class people. Previously was considered a luxury item. People like martin could not
previously have afforded coffee. Connecting this to the final profile, the Italian worker considering
migrating to brazil; slavery was abolished in brazil in 1888. She was one of the last countries in the
world to abolish this type of slavery. This meant a large labour force upon which key aspects of the
Brazilian economy depended, needed to be replaced quickly. One of the approaches adopted by the
Brazilian gvt and other latin American countries was to encourage mass immigration of people,
especially from Europe, Italy, spain and Portugal so that some 1 million Italians migrated to brazil
between 1880 and 1900, particularly to address that labour gap created by the abolition of slavery.
This in turn, the greta movement of people helped maintain brazil’s great place in the world as a
